Travis Milburn on Kart Idaho Racing: 'We're Still Building On It'

Doing a lot with a little is the mantra for many in the K&N Pro Series.

Travis Milburn fits that mold as well. In the series for over a decade, the 26-year-old Eagle, Idaho, native has seen his fair share of drivers come and go in the best equipment the garage has.

“I was originally running K&N way back in 2009. That‘s when we kind of started building it,” he said. “We were running cars we nicknamed Frankenstein. Like, they were ugly. Terrible cars. We were just trying to get our foot in the door while not breaking the bank at the same time, while not being gone in two-three years — and learn.”

Racing-Reference: Travis Milburn Career Statistics

From there, Milburn began slowly building up to a more regular schedule in the K&N Pro Series. 11 races in both 2010 and 2011 and another 10 in 2012. But when 2013 rolled around, his plans changed.

“I was in college at the time and started getting heavily involved in the family business in California,” he said. “So I started running super late models and late models in California. My family sold business last fall, and I didn‘t want to live in California anymore. Decided to move back to Idaho, John (Wood, longtime team owner) called me and said, ‘hey, this go-kart thing is going to start to get going. I need someone to help me run it.’ I came back and we‘ve been slowly putting everything together.”

Kart Idaho Racing’s inventory consists of vehicles that aren’t going to compete with the higher-funded race teams of the world. But they’re improving and becoming a steady, respectable organization.

“It‘s been a slow progression,” he admitted. “We‘re obviously one of the tiny teams out there. From the outside, we might look like we‘re a bigger team because everything‘s cleaner now and looks better. But in reality, we‘re still one of the small teams. When you come up and see, it‘s only a couple of us working on the car.”

In fact, Milburn and his crew chief, Sonny Wahl, were the only two people working on his No. 08 Chevrolet at Tucson Speedway, where he finished 16th (crash) and eighth, respectively. At South Boston, it was a similer story.

He was forced to cut his practice short because he was the one who was making adjustments to the car. When one needed to be made towards the end of the session, he wasn’t able to get out and get back into his car in time to make more laps.

“It‘s one of those things where we‘re still building on it,” he said. “We‘re trying to do it a cheap as possible. Unfortunately, one of the things we‘re struggling with is getting people at the track. Sometimes, we borrow random late model guys that happen to be around. We did that at Tucson. At South Boston, I had people that happened to be at the track spot for me because I didn‘t have enough people to spot. We‘re doing it by a razor blade but I‘ll say we‘re making it work.”

Milburn and Kart Idaho have a partnership in the ARCA Menard’s and Gander Outdoors Truck Series with Vizion Motorsports (formerly NextGen Motorsports), fielding part-time entries for Bayley Currey and Brenden Queen.

The 55-race series veteran explained how the process works, having drivers based on the East coast come out West to gain experience to then go back East and run ARCA and Trucks. Milburn also said the KIR team is building three cars in house to prepare for what 2020 may hold.

“We’re not a top team, but we can get you in the door and get you equipment that can run competitively and can do something with,” he said. “And occasionally win, as proven by Kody (Vanderwal, Tucson last season).”

One top five and 11 top 10 results in over a decade might not jump out on paper. But Milburn’s importance to the series can’t be overstated. Just an Idaho guy who loves race cars and wants to see the series grow and flourish — just like his race team.

Milburn and the No. 08 team will look to continue their solid start to the season at Colorado National Speedway on June 8 for the NAPA Auto Parts 150. The green flag is scheduled to fly around 8:30 p.m.